PHNST News Portal

Work Trip on the PHT

Saturday, September 24, 2011, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm Celebrate National Public Lands Day by helping construct a new segment of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail along Powell's Creek connecting to the existing trail route leaving Leesylvania State Park. The Potomac Heritage Trail Association, Prince William Trails & Streams, the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) are jointly sponsoring this work trip. We need many additional volunteers to assist us in building this important new trail segment. For more information, please contact Glenn Gillis at glennpotomacfalls@yahoo.com


Volunteers Construct Trail Linking Metz Wetlands with Leesylvania Park

(PHTA News letter - Summer 2011) On National Trails Day, June 4, 2011, more than fifty volunteers pitched in to construct 0.4 miles of trail to link two major segments of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail in Woodbridge, VA. Participating groups were Prince William Trails and Streams (PWTS), REI, Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (PATC), and PHTA. Zoe Vitter of PWTS organized and led the June 4 event. PWTS provided Potomac Heritage Trail mugs and T-shirts, and along with REI, refreshments—very welcome cold drinks and sandwiches for lunch.


PHTA proposal for the PHNST selected as Smart Growth Priority winner in 2010!

(March 7, 2011) The Washington Sustainable Growth Alliance (WSGA) has selected the PHTA's proposal for completion of the PHNST from Mt Vernon to Prince William Forest Park as one of six Smart Growth Priority winners in 2010. PHTA's proposal will be one of the featured projects in the WSGA's upcoming 2011 publication.


The WSGA will be holding a press event on the lawn at Mount Vernon on April 27th at 1:00 pm. WSGA Pesident, Bob Harris and the conservation jury chair will speak briefly about the Alliance and the program.  Congressman Gerald Connelly will also be on hand to offer some remarks about two of the sellected projects he has been instrumental in advancing - Featherstone NWR and the Potomac Heritage Trail.


This is a public event and all conservation minded supporters and constituents are envited to attend.


Volunteers Build New Trail at Rippon Lodge in PrinceWilliam Co.

(PHTA News Letter - Summer 2010) Twenty-five volunteers from several groups, including PHTA, toiled for five hours in hot weather on National Trails Day, June 5, 2010, to construct a new, ¾-mile long trail at Rippon Lodge in Prince William County. The trail, shown as a dotted black line in the map below, roughly parallels Blackburn Road. The new trail is a spur trail for the PHNST, which runs through Rippon Landing Park (green area on map) on the other (eastern) side of Blackburn Road and parallel to it.


The volunteers, from REI Corporation and Prince William Trails and Streams (PWT&S), were divided into several groups. PHTA provided a leader for each group. Tasks involved clearing vegetation, removing roots, and scraping soil away to form a smooth hiking surface.


White’s Ford Will Become a 275-acre Public Park on the Potomac Riverfront in Loudoun County, VA

(PHTA News Letter - Summer 2010) Thanks to perseverance and hard work by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA), and strong support of trail advocates, the final permitting for White’s Ford Park is completed. The 275-acre riverfront property in northern Loudoun County will become a public park. It will host a significant section of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail.


As discussed in our Winter 2010 PHTN, the park’s future a few months ago was very much in doubt. It faced strong opposition from the immediate neighbors, on the usual “not in my back yard” grounds. It faced several contentions hearings and votes, first to the Loudoun County Planning Commission, the Land Use Committee, and finally the Board of Supervisors. In the first week of July, 2010, the Board of Supervisors approved the permits for White's Ford Regional Park—a process that took 20 months from start to finish.


To obtain approval, NVRPA had to make a number of concessions, including road improvements and limits on camping facilities.


The park will open in 2011. In the meantime, NVRPA plans to plant many trees and convert some of the open fields into meadows that will attract birds, butterflies and other wildlife. There will be trails and opportunities for launching canoes and kayaks (no trailers or motorized boats are permitted). The Potomac Heritage Trail Association looks forward to working with NVRPA to plan a route for the PHNST.


Momentum Builds Toward 11.11.11

(ATA News Letter - Summer 2010) Exciting progress toward the completion of the Great Allegheny Passage to Pittsburgh was accomplished on July 7 when two bridges were set in place, almost simultaneously. Both cross active rail lines along the Monongahela River.


In Whitaker, a 170-foot, 62-ton bridge now crosses six sets of tracts operated by Norfolk Southern (NS) and Union Railroad Company. And in the Duquesne RIDC Industrial Park, a 110-foot, 37-ton bridge crosses three sets of NS tracks.


Both the ATA and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato have embraced a goal of completion to the Forks of the Ohio by Nov. 11, 2011.


“Getting to this point required a tremendous, intensive effort over three years,” said ATA President Linda Boxx.”


Both bridges were engineered and fabricated by Contech Bridge Solutions of Alexandria, Minnesota, delivered in nine sections, and reassembled on rail cars.


Whitaker Bridge was lifted by a track crane and the Port Perry Bridge in Duquesne was lifted by a hydraulic crane. The two bridges are separated by about two miles. Trail using U. S. Steel’s former coke gas pipeline will connect the two bridges and should be under construction by fall.